Sanctions

The European Union’s economic sanctions against Russia will be extended for another six months, European Council President Donald Tusk has said. The measures targeting Russia’s economy were due to expire next month. “The EU unanimously prolongs economic sanctions against Russia given zero progress in implementation of Minsk agreements,” Tusk said on Twitter.

Washington’s reported plans to ratchet up sanctions against Moscow have sparked heated debates both in the US and in Russia over which country will be hurt more. The US has hinted that it would target exports of sensitive national security goods to Russia, stop flights by Russia’s Aeroflot airlines to the US, and could go […]

At least 13 countries have expressed their interest in purchasing the Russian S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile systems instead of US equipment despite the likelihood of provoking Washington’s sanctions, media reported citing people with first-hand knowledge of a US intelligence assessment.

The Iranian Central Bank has been cut off the SWIFT financial messaging system, the US Treasury Department has said. Disconnection makes it more difficult for the Islamic Republic to settle import and export bills.

New sanctions placed on Iran by US President Donald Trump are likely to have the reverse effect the White House is hoping for, according to new reports, as Tehran’s petroleum exports are set to increase just as Washington’s restrictions commence.

US threatens to smack SWIFT if it allows transactions in violation of Iran sanctions. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned global financial messaging service SWIFT on Friday that it could be penalized if it doesn’t cut off financial services to entities and individuals doing business with Iran.

European countries have vowed to maintain “effective financial channels” and to keep trading with Tehran after the US announced that the EU is not among those spared from its sweeping sanctions against Iran.

NASA managed to convince the White House to ‘temporarily’ lift the travel ban imposed on Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin so he could pay a visit to the US, the head of NASA said on Friday. NASA “succeeded” in temporarily “removing” the head of the Russian national space agency ‘Roscosmos’ from the sanctions list, Jim Bridenstine told TASS news agency.

The US sanctions threat against Saudi Arabia will likely remain only a threat, analysts have told RT. The kingdom is a major buyer of American arms and is also a huge holder of US Treasury bonds which makes sanctions improbable.

Washington’s aggressive policy against Moscow could be a sufficient reason behind the recent fall of the dollar’s share of global central-bank reserves, according to economist at US multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs. Russia’s Central Bank has sold some $85 billion of its $150 billion holding of the US assets from April through June after the […]

Washington’s sanctions against Tehran would fundamentally change other countries’ economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic, the Financial Times has written. EU finance ministers will try to persuade the US administration not to disconnect Iran from the international payment system SWIFT, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.

US steel and aluminum tariffs are in reality economic sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual Q&A session. “Apparently, our partners thought they would never be affected by such a counterproductive policy related to restrictions and sanctions. However, we see now that it is happening.”

China has canceled the visit of its Navy commander to the US, in response to the sanctions imposed by Washington against Beijing over its military cooperation with Russia, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said. On Thursday, the US State Department imposed sanctions against Beijing’s defense procurement agency, the Equipment Development Department (EED), for its […]